WASHINGTON, Sept. 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- A new national survey of flight attendants released today by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO (AFA) found that over 98% of all respondents had worked a flight with at least one emotional support animal onboard in the last 24 months.
AFA has called on the Department of Transportation to take action to limit abuse of the 'emotional support animal' designation in the system. Eighty-two percent of all responding flight attendants strongly believe a consistent policy throughout the airline industry is needed to define requirements while supporting passengers with disabilities and veterans.
"The rampant abuse of claiming a need for emotional support animals in air travel is negatively impacting all passengers. It's a safety, health, and security issue," said Sara Nelson, AFA President.
Sixty-one percent of the responding flight attendants reported working a flight where an emotional support animal caused a disruption in the cabin; 53% of the disruptions included aggressive or threatening behavior by the animal. Examples include a dog snapping at a flight attendant's heel when they walked by or in another case bit a flight attendant while they attempted to set a beverage on the tray table. Flight attendants also reported repeated barking, snapping, and lunging at crewmembers, passengers, and even children.
Forty-three percent of the disruptions included animals failing to fit in the designated space, roaming about the cabin, and barking consistently throughout the flight. One bird was lost in the cabin for 45 minutes, one dog was in the aisle of the aircraft the entire flight, blocking the path of egress. Responding flight attendants also reported animals often getting loose in the cabin after their owner fell asleep during flight.
One of the more ironic examples reported was a flight attendant who had to page for a vet because a passenger said their dog was having a breathing problem. A nurse onboard assisted and advised the owner to hold the animal tightly and talk to the "emotional support animal" because it was having an anxiety attack.
Additional findings:
"Passengers who attempt to evade air transport pet policies by falsely claiming their pet is an emotional support animal cause safety, health, and security issues onboard," Nelson said. "The widespread abuse has led many passengers to believe all service animals onboard are fake, which creates poor treatment by other passengers toward those with legitimate need. The DOT needs to take action."
Animals identified in the survey were primarily dogs and cats, but also included household birds (parrot, finch, etc.), rodents (hamster, guinea pig, etc.), pigs, reptiles, and non-household birds. Nearly 5,000 responses from flight attendants across 30 airlines were collected from July 20, 2018 through August 6, 2018.
The Association of Flight Attendants is the Flight Attendant union. Focused 100 percent on Flight Attendant issues, AFA has been the leader in advancing the Flight Attendant profession for 73 years. Serving as the voice for Flight Attendants in the workplace, in the aviation industry, in the media and on Capitol Hill, AFA has transformed the Flight Attendant profession by raising wages, benefits and working conditions. Nearly 50,000 Flight Attendants come together to form AFA, part of the 700,000-member strong Communications Workers of America (CWA), AFL-CIO. Visit us at www.afacwa.org.
SOURCE Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA)
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